How to make the bees from our shop windows

Have you seen the bees nestled amongst the flowers in our shop windows this month? These bee-utiful little bumblebees were made by our windows team, and they’ve put together a handy guide so you can have a go at making your own.

What you’ll need

1 strip of black card for the head of the bee (approximately 18cm long by 1.5cm wide)

2 strips of black card for the stripes on the body (approximately 10cm long by 0.5cm wide)

2 white wings

2 black beads for eyes

1 piece of green wire (approximately 30cm long)

Glue gun or strong adhesive

Wooden or bamboo skewer for curling card

How to make our paper bees

Holding the wooden skewer, start to wind on the wide end of the yellow triangular strip of card tightly to create the body. Continue to wind until all the card is curled (you can slide the body off the skewer once you have established the shape).

Slightly release your hold on the body, just enough so that it opens up a little bit, then glue the end to hold it in place. Take the strip of black card for the head and wind it tightly around the skewer. Next, take it off the skewer and glue the end.

For the eyes, glue one black bead to each side of the head.

Press one side of the body a little bit flat and attach the head with glue to hold it in place.

Wrap the two black strips of card around the body, leaving a gap between each stripe and secure with glue.

Glue each wing to the body, just in front of the first black stripe, as shown.

Using the pliers, bend the end of the green wire into a small circle and then glue it underneath the body.

About me

Fiona has lived in New York and New Zealand, but has called Cornwall home for the past nine years. She works in our content team and loves the fact she never knows what she’ll end up researching from one day to the next. Outside work, she always has a variety of creative projects on the go and is working on a novel. In her spare time, you’ll often find her on the beach with her camera or collecting unusual shells and stones.